"Each World Tree lives knowing they are cursed to be alone and no one will rember them." Xaphen said.
"Without my fragnt, the next World Tree will beco bitter and resentful soon
after they inherit the mantle and realize what awaits them. The next Yggdrasill will try to break out their prison or, if that proves to be impossible, to make everyone as miserable as them."
The Sapling extended his hand with his palm open to Lith but Aalejah stopped him again.
"Wait, there's sothing you don't know. Once the fragnt is gone, you'll lose your mory of everything that happened since you received it. You would forget about having this conversation, every place you visited, and every person you've t."
"Destiny is truly cruel." Xaphen laughed bitterly. "It seems I can't escape the fate of the World Tree but it's a small price to pay. I can only hope that so echo of my travels will remain.
"Maybe I'll see it in my dreams and find the motivation to leave my ho and start traveling again. Losing my mory also ans I'd have the rare chance of trying sothing for the first ti a second ti."
"You don't need hope." Lotho extended a bundle of his vines. "Use a mind link and the communion between Fae to leave a ssage to yourself. Once the fragnt has been removed, I'll give the ssage to you."
"It's a good idea but I'd rather leave it to Aalejah, brother." The Sapling said. "There's no telling how the fragnt might affect a fellow Fac and no reason to risk discovering it."
"A fair point." The plant representative nodded. "Before eting you, I always envied the World Tree and considered them foolish for being unable to resist the madness. Now I can see that what I considered a blessing is a curse and vice versa."
"Glad to be of help." Xaphen held the elf's hand, trying his best to be concise.
There was only so much a brain could handle and he had to be sure his future amnesiac self wouldn't doubt the origin and sincerity of those mories. He entrusted her with feelings he had always kept for himself and a tiny personal embarrassing secret.
"I'm ready." The Sapling let go of Aalejah and looked at Lith.
Without Xaphen's will holding it back, the fragnt was unable to resist the call and left his life force. Lith was still purifying the new fragnt when the Sapling started looking around in utter confusion.
"Who are you? Why am I in this ridiculous form? What happened to my ho? What are we doing here?" Xaphen recognized none of the people staring at him.
Yet he could see with Life Vision that if the strangers wanted to harm him, they would have already killed or restrained him with ease. The mysterious Dragon was strong enough to kill him by herself while the others would have needed to join their forces. "It's a long story, brother, but I can explain it to you." Lotho extended his vines and the Sapling accepted them without hesitation.
'I need to understand what has gotten into to make leave the safety of my ho.' He thought. If I was kidnapped or used in a Forbidden Magic ritual, I must learn how to keep it from happening ag
The plant representative started the mind link from the death of the World Tree, skipped everything until the mont Lith had asked for Lotho's help, and left out nothing past that point.
"This must be a fucking joke!" Xaphen rejected the vines with such violence that the sudden break of the communion stunned Lotho. "Over two months? Do you really expect to believe I was in a mystical trance with a fragnt of the World Tree and played tourist for two months?"
Lith recognized a fellow paranoid when he saw one and acted accordingly.
"You don't have to believe us. Believe yourself." He said. "Feel free to check your calendar if you have one or call any of your friends."
"Excellent idea. The Sapling took his communication amulet out of his dinsional storage and found it flooded with worried ssages and missed calls. "I can't believe I wasted over two months of my life and have no mory of it."
He said after listening to the ssages and calling his best friend to confirm the current date.
"You wasted nothing" Aalejah shook her head. "Quite the contrary. You have left a ssage for yourself. Do you want to hear it?"
Xaphen looked at the elf like she was crazy but, as the many revelations he had received in the past few minutes sunk in, he realized that one more piece of crazy news would make little difference.
Aalejah passed on to the Sapling his own passcodes and many details no one else
could know. Then, she shared with him the joy and amazent Xaphen's past self had chosen as his ssage.
There were no words in it, just a collection of images of people, places, and adventures. The Sapling recognized none of them but the visions stirred feelings he didn't know to have.
Sohow, every one of those monts he had never lived was precious to him. He
could only recollect bits and fragnts.
"Are you alright?" Aalejah's voice snapped him out of his reverie.
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"Yes, why do you ask?" Xaphen felt sothing on his face that turned out to be tears. "Oh, that's why."
"Well, since we'll never et again, I'll say it. You were much nicer when possessed by the fragnt." Lith said. "You are the first one that I regret splitting from the essence
of the World Tree"
"Lith!" Solus rebuked him. "Xaphen is still shocked and confused. What's your excuse?"
"Your friend is a rude jerk, but he has a point." The Sapling said while checking his appearance and clothes. "A few minutes ago, I was a better person. I want to be that person again so I have to start my journey from the beginning again.
"Before that, however, I'd like to help you. Allow to accompany you and I'll make sure you won't have trouble with Zima's Council. I can also vouch for you to the other
Fac."
"Are you sure?" Lotho asked. "If soone discovers you are helping foreigners take the power of the World Tree away from Zima, you'll be the one in trouble!"
"I'm sure." Xaphen nodded. "You need a local guide and I have to start my journey sowhere. Everybody wins. Also, I'm not taking the World Tree away, I'm protecting
Zima from their madness.
"From what I've seen in your mories, Lotho, those fragnts can't be left unchecked. It's only a matter of ti before a mber of my brethren understands what happened and tries to collect them.
"rging unpurified fragnts together would bring back the worst of the World Tree and trigger a war between Zima and Jiera. After the plague, the relationship between the two continents is awful.
"If not for the monster infestation and the lost cities roaming free, Zima would have already invaded Jiera.
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